Star named Newspaper of the Year, brings home 25 awards from Maine Press Association

Thursday

Oct 31, 2013 at 2:00 AM

For the second year in a row, the York County Coast Star was named Weekly Newspaper of the Year for papers in its circulation class at the annual Maine Press Association Awards.

For the second year in a row, the York County Coast Star was named Weekly Newspaper of the Year for papers in its circulation class at the annual Maine Press Association Awards.

The winners were announced Saturday night during the MPA's annual fall conference at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Conference Center in Bar Harbor. The daylong conference drew more than 240 people. A total of 30 newspapers entered the contest, submitting a total of 1,443 entries in 57 categories.

Reporter Jennifer Feals and Editor Laura Dolce of the York County Coast Star were the winners of the Freedom of Information Award for weekly newspapers.

Altogether, the Coast Star brought home 25 awards, including first place wins in Specialty Page Design by Living Editor Laura Snyder Smith, in both Spot News and Analysis by Feals for her coverage of the Kennebunk prostitution trial, Editorials by Dolce, Sports Columnist by Sports Editor Carl Pepin, Education Story by Feals and People Photo by Photo Editor Deb Cram. SMG Web Editor Glenn Sabalewski received a first place award for Special Online Project/Section for his creation of a special web page on the Kennebunk prostitution case.

Other winners included retired Kennebunk High School teacher Joe Foster's piece on how Worl War II affected on KHS class, which won third place for arts/lifestyle feature; a third place critic's award for retired reviewer Joe Sheehan, and third place for special section for the paper's official Prelude guide.

"Our team in Kennebunk live and work in the towns we serve and their involvement keeps the Star on top of news and sports," said publisher John Tabor. "These awards recognize the quality of their work as tops in a very competitive field. We at Seacoast Media Group are proud of their accomplishments."

In his comments on choosing the Star as Newspaper of the Year, Charles Perry, editor of the Myrtle Beach Herald in Myrtle Beach, S.C., noted, "There's a great sense of community in this paper. Lots of interesting stories, sharp photographs and well designed pages. This is the clear winner."

Many of the awards were given for the paper's coverage of the Kennebunk prostitution case, which one judge called, "Thorough, fair and clear-headed" and another, "Tough national story handled well locally."

Star editor Laura Dolce said she was tremendously proud of the staff for its award-winning work, and particularly for receiving the Association's top honor, Newspaper of the Year, for the second year in a row.

"News ebbs and flows, and we certainly had a lot of headline-making news this year," she said. "But first and foremost we were recognized as a paper with a 'great sense of community,' which is our primary mission here at the Star: to tell the stories of the communities we cover.

"It's rewarding to be recognized for doing that well, and for that we owe thanks to the people of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Wells, Ogunquit and Arundel, for sharing their stories with us."

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